Am a newby, was gifted with a Sonicblue 5040 which
has never been activated. Have read that the 5040
can be used to manually record OTA video. Have not
found a means to access the menu to do this, the
un-activated 5040 hangs at the second screen on
booting (the "quick setup" screen), apparently
waiting for the phone line (which I prefer not to
connect). Am seeking suggestions how to access the
menu without going through the activation setup process.

I previously ran diagnostics on the Maxtor drive,
found no problems, but did not do the LL format.
Interesting that my (XP) PC showed the drive at BIOS
time and in device manager but does NOT show up
when click "computer". So I apparently can't look
at the code, to possibly modify to bypass the hang?

Am a newby, was gifted with a Sonicblue 5040 which
has never been activated. Have read that the 5040
can be used to manually record OTA video. Have not
found a means to access the menu to do this, the
un-activated 5040 hangs at the second screen on
booting (the "quick setup" screen), apparently
waiting for the phone line (which I prefer not to
connect). Am seeking suggestions how to access the
menu without going through the activation setup process.

I previously ran diagnostics on the Maxtor drive,
found no problems, but did not do the LL format.
Interesting that my (XP) PC showed the drive at BIOS
time and in device manager but does NOT show up
when click "computer". So I apparently can't look
at the code, to possibly modify to bypass the hang?

If it is not activated, it is useless. However, since DNNA let the cows out of the barn, it doesn't cost anything except your internet connection or your phone calls to activate it and set it up.

To record OTA, however, you are going to need to do more than just plug in an antenna. The RTV doesn't understand ATSC (new digital) television signals, and thus you will need to make use of a D2A converter box that the ReplayTV can control. You will also need to make use of a non-standard line-up to get guide data.

OK, am trying to access activation but cannot get past
the soft boot, even after plugging in the phone line.
Have not found exact remedy to my problem in threads.
On booting, am getting past the hardware boot:
1. getting the "replaytv please wait" screen
2. getting the "welcome to replay sonicblue
one moment please" screen
3. blue light near power button goes off
4. pressing the power button gives:
"quick setup" screen which contains
"welcome...."
"navigating...."
"begin quick setup"
Then nothing happens, the sonicblue 5040 remote does not
communicate with the hardware unit. The remote has new
batteries and red light flashes when buttons are pushed;
remote is sending IR as confirmed with digital camera.

How do I determine if this is a problem with component(s)
in the hardware unit?

It is possible that the IR receiver eye and board on the RTV is busted, or the cable connecting the IR receiver board to the rest of the RTV is loose or something.

I had to replace one on one of my RTV's. I had spare parts I was able to cannibalize from a unit after a lightning strike.

You will need to open the RTV and look for damage. The IR receiver board will be the size of an index card (or smaller) and located on the front of the unit behind the power button. There are posts (at least there were) which show what the internals of a RTV 5xxx series RTV looks like -- you can try the thread which describes how to set up a two drive system.

Before tearing into the replay, you may also want to grab universal remote and program it for the replay and see if its not a busted remote... you never know.... a light on the remote may not indicate some other problem with the remote.

This is something I've always never liked about more recent a/v devices; just a power button if you are lucky and even thats a luxury these days; there should always be a way to use the device with out a remote if needed -basic buttons should be on the device in hidden sliding slot just for this kind of scenario-